When we talk about female MMA fighters, they are easily amongst the best athletes out there in the sports world, with a basic differentiator that they make their living by crushing opponents into submission. Although fighting has never been conventionally recognised as a woman’s sport, a female MMA fighter can definitely hold her own when she is in the ring, even if she is up against a man.
Here in this article, we will acquaint you with some of the top women in MMA fighting world, who are also amongst the best ever female UFC fighters. It’s not a coincidence that because they workout and train so hard for a living these are also knockout gorgeous in the real world, outside of the ring. Let’s learn about some of these female fighters below.
Cris Cyborg
Considered the most dominant female MMA fighter ever, Cris Cyborg’s pressure and her pace is such that no one has been able to match it in the MMA history. She has beaten everyone in a dominant way and is extremely engaging in the ring. Her knock out at the hands of Amanda Nunes in UFC 232 came as a big surprise to many, as it is pretty rare to see her in any vulnerable position. Regardless, it cannot be denied that she is definitely amongst the most fearsome female MMA fighters to ever enter the ring.
Amanda Nunes
The current champion in both the bantamweight and featherweight categories, Amanda Nunes has rapidly moved up the charts after defeating Cyborg at UFC 232. Amanda defeated Ronda Rousey even more emphatically than Holly Holm. She was born and brought up in a small town on the outskirts of Salvador, Bahia, located in Brazil. Amanda started out practising karate when she was just 4 years old and later trained in boxing when she was 16. She is trained as a competent Brazilian jujitsu fighter and definitely deserves a place in this list of top female MMA fighters.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is a female MMA fighter of Polish descent who normally competes in the UFC’s strawweight division of women. She has won the women’s Strawweight Championship of UFC and is the third champion of European origin in the history of UFC, after Bas Rutten in 1999, and later Andrei Arlovski in 2005. Considered by many as the best striker in the female MMA today, Joanna’s kickboxing and Muay Thai skills are arguably the best in the world. Every time you see her stepping into the octagon, her martial arts are as good as her mainstream marketability and trash talking! She was the holder of the UFC Women’s Flyweight belt up until UFC 231 where she lost it to Valentina Shevchenko. Currently, she ranks as number 4 on both the UFC’s Women Flywweight and Starwweight rankings.
Ronda Rousey
The manner in which Ronda Rousey exited the MMA for WWE left a sour taste in many people’s mouth, however, her work in MMA and the popularity she enjoyed as a female MMA fighter is undeniable. She was amongst the first few mainstream female MMA fighters and was always a trailblazer in her field.
Ronda also emerged as the biggest stars when it came to MMA promotions. It doesn’t come as a surprise that she was inducted into UFC Hall of Fame as well. Now, she serves as one of the forerunners for the women division of WWE Raw. Apart from working in sports entertainment, Ronda has a solid movie career having made appearances in the budget smashing Fast and Furious Franchise in 2015. She also recently starred in the the Mark Wahlberg led movie named Mile 22 released in theatres in 2018.
Valentina Shevchenko
Also known as “Bullet”, Valentina Shevchenko has been one of the most dominant female fighters in the UFC. Her origins can be traced to Kyrgyzstani and Peru as she has both bloodlines coursing through her veins. She also happens to be a former Muay Thai fighter. She currently competes in the flyweight division of the UFC and holds the flyweight belt having defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk in UFC 231. Her defeat of Joanna Jedrzejczyk is not a first time occurrence as the two females had faced each other in amateur Muay Thai fights with Valentina coming out tops. Her reign of dominance is expected to be long-standing.
